Knitted fabric.



963,744. Patented July 12, 1910.

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H. A. CARTER. KNITTED FABRIC. APPLIOATION FILED JAN.14, 1 s1o.

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KNITTED FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 14, 1910.

Patented July 12, 1910.

Serial No. 538,081.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE A. CARTER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Needham Heights, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Knitted Fabrics, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like numerals on the drawings representing likeparts.

This invention relates to elastic knitted fabrics.

In order that the principle of the invention may readily be understood,I have disclosed a single embodiment thereof in the drawing, wherein isrepresented in plan a portion of a knitted fabric constructed inaccordance with my invention.

So far as I am aware, elastic knitted fabrics have heretofore beenconstructed by incorporating rubber strands therewith during theknitting operation. This requires the use of special machinery whichadds materially to the cost of production.

I have devised a simple manner of constructing knitted fabrics which aresubstantially as elastic as knitted fabrics having rubber strandsincorporated therewith during the process of knitting and which may beknitted upon ordinary types of knitting machines, the rubber or othersuitable elastic strands being applied thereto after the knittingoperation is completed.

In accordance with my invention, I knit a fabric in the usual manner,the fabric being ribbed or plain and fiat or circular as desired.

In the drawing, I have represented a fabric whose back ground or body isknitted, and hence is provided with Wales 1 and courses 2 at rightangles thereto, the fabric therefore being elastic in the direction ofsaid courses.

To either face of the knitted fabric I secure one or more elastic andpreferably rubber strands 3 by applying one end of such strand orstrands thereto, preferably beneath the presser foot of a sewingmachine, and then sew the said strands thereto by rows of stitches whichare elastic longitudinally of the knitted courses. These elasticstitches I have represented diagrammatically, but they may be of anysuitable nature, such for example as the interlock stitch of the UnionSpecial machine or an overlook stitch, or the stitch known as cross orzigzag or any form of the elastic stitch made by sewing machines. Suchstitches are freely elastic in the direction of the length of the rowsof stitches and therefore the inherent elasticity of the knitted fabricis not impaired by the sewing stitches.

In accordance with my invention, I may apply a plurality of rubber orother suitable strands simultaneously, in which event 1 may employ anumber of needles correspending to the number of strands or a lessnumber of needles acting in succession upon the successive strands, orif desired the strands may be introduced singly.

It is apparent that if the strands be applied to a circular fabric, suchfor example as a stocking, the strands may be attached by spiral rows ofstitches, the rubber strands thus passing around and around the fabric.If, however, the strands be applied to a flat fabric, they may extend toand fro upon the face of the fabric, for which purpose the knittedfabric may be reversed at the end of the formation of a row or rows ofstitches, so that the succeeding row extends in parallelism but in theopposite direction. Thus, it is unnecessary to sever the rubber strandsat the edges of the fabric. If desired, however, the rubber strands mayextend merely from edge to edge or through any desired portion of thefabric and not passed to and fro thereon.

It is apparent that the rubber strands need not be applied throughoutthe entire width of a knitted fabric; that is, from edge to edge of aflat fabric, but may extend over merely a limited portion of thesurface, so as in effect to form a gored or gusset portion, in whichevent, the laterally adjacent portions of the fabric consist merely ofknitted stitches.

Having thus described one illustrative embodiment of my invention, Idesire it to be understood that although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes oflimitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the followingclaims.

Claims.

1. A knitted fabric having a rubber strand extending to and fro upon oneface of the fabric in substantial parallelism to the courses thereofonly, and secured thereto by sewed stitches elastic longitudinally ofsaid courses.

2. A knitted fabric having a substantially smooth surface inherentlyelastic in the direction of its courses and an inherently elastic strandsecured to the surface of the said knitted fabric and extending in thedirec tion only of said knitted courses, said elastic strand beingsecured by sewed stitches, which are elastic longitudinally of saidcourses, whereby the elasticity of the knitted fabric is not impairedand whereby the nor- I

